Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Mohtadi, Mahyar
• Prange, Matthias
• Steinke, Stephan

Titel

Palaeoclimatic insights into forcing and response of monsoon rainfall

Ist Teil von

• Nature (London), 2016-05, Vol.533 (7602), p.191-199

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Palaeoclimatic evidence of monsoon rainfall dynamics across different regions and timescales suggests that monsoon systems exhibit substantial regional variation; meridional temperature gradients are a major driver of monsoon variability, but these gradients are influenced by other, interacting forcing mechanisms, making predictions of future changes in monsoon rainfall highly uncertain. The roots of monsoon variability Predictions of the future state of regional monsoons systems are both extremely important and extremely difficult. Mahyar Mohtadi et al . review evidence from palaeoclimate archives, interpreted through the lens of climate model simulations, to show that monsoonal variability is driven by meridional temperature gradients and that monsoon systems exhibit substantial regional character. This main conclusion does not conflict with existing theories of monsoonal dynamics, but the review also shows that the gradient can be altered by a host of different processes, all of which seem to operate individualistically and under different boundary conditions. Constructing a single synthetic understanding of the mechanisms influencing monsoonal variability is therefore surprisingly difficult. Monsoons are the dominant seasonal mode of climate variability in the tropics and are critically important conveyors of atmospheric moisture and energy at a global scale. Predicting monsoons, which have profound impacts on regions that are collectively home to more than 70 per cent of Earth’s population, is a challenge that is difficult to overcome by relying on instrumental data from only the past few decades. Palaeoclimatic evidence of monsoon rainfall dynamics across different regions and timescales could help us to understand and predict the sensitivity and response of monsoons to various forcing mechanisms. This evidence suggests that monsoon systems exhibit substantial regional character.